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The London Knights were dead. They were down 3-0 to the Oshawa Generals in the third period, couldn’t put two good passes together and had a power play that had everything except power.

Then the Generals took a penalty and Max Domi broke the ice for the Knights.

The goal seemed to also break the Generals.

Before you could say “no way can this be happening,” the Knights staged an improbable comeback, scoring three times on power plays in the third before Seth Griffith put it away with another power-play goal 2:40 into overtime.

It gave the Knights a headshaking 4-3 win Thursday at the Gardens, a win no one believed was possible after 40 minutes.

“When we went into the second intermission (Knights coach Dale Hunter) said ‘Well boys, you’ve dug yourselves a hole and now you have to dig yourselves out of it,’ ” Domi said.

It probably wasn’t as flashy as a win-one-for-the-Gipper speech but it was good enough to wake up the Knights.

Or maybe what woke up the Knights was the fact the Generals feel asleep.

Domi scored two goals, the first on a checking-from-behind penalty, the second on a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty.

Bo Horvat tied the game with 22 seconds left in the period and Knights goalie Jake Patterson on the bench for a sixth attacker. That was on another too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty.

The winner came with the Generals in the penalty box yet again, this time for interference. Griffith got a chance near the net and made no mistake with it.

Domi could have ended it several times, making some great moves with his soft hands, but he couldn’t connect.

“Obviously we didn’t play very good,” Griffith said. “We set a game plan in the third. Get three guys hard on the puck and the (defence) come down the wall.”

In layman’s terms that can be summed up by the word pressure. But plenty of pressure on the defence, force turnovers and go to the net.

It was so effective by the time the Knights had cut the Generals’ lead to 3-2 the crowd at The Gardens made this November game sound like a playoff game and the Knights were buzzing the Generals so hard, they couldn’t move.

The real statement was made when Knights’ Josh Andersen nailed Matt Petgrave into the boards with a big check that took him out of the game with an arm injury late in the third.

“The pressure made them cough up pucks and take penalties,” Griffith said. “When you have a guy like Andersen coming in hard with a check like that, I don’t think they really wanted to play after that. You don’t want anyone to get hurt but it was just a hard play.”

Generals coach DJ Smith looked hot enough that you could fry an egg on him. His club was in total control for 40 minutes and then gave it all up in just about every facet of the game.

“We ran out of gas. We lost our composure and started to do things we did do in two and a half periods,” Smith said. “Those are signs of a team that needs to learn how to win. There was a lot of good things but at the end of the day you’re up 3-0, you have to win.”

While the win would feed an adrenaline junky for weeks, what can’t be lost in all of the excitement with the comeback was how poorly the Knights played in the first two periods.

Their first period could be described in one word “horrific.” They trailed 3-0, where outshot 20-10 and by around the 13 minute mark of the period, they lifted starting goaltender Kevin Bailie when he’d given up two soft goals.

“We aren’t going to be able to come back every game when we’re down 3-0 like that. We have to get ready to play from the start,” Griffith said.

Before the game, the Knights filed their list of protected overage players and there wasn’t any surprises. OHL teams are allowed to protect four players. The Knights protected three players on their roster, goalie Kevin Bailie and defenceman Tyler Ferry and Tommy Hughes. Their fourth protected player is goaltender Mike Houser. Any movement in the free agent department would require the Knights drop one of those players.